Who is the next Gavrilo Princip with a loaded gun?
The centenary of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie by Gavrilo Princip today leads me to write that in 2014 there are legions of armed fanatics all seeking their version of a better world.
Even with global communications, there appears to be no way we can reach one another and discover all people basically want the same things.
In the movie Gone with the Wind, Ashley Wilkes observes the ‘‘all the ills of the world are caused by wars . . . and when they were over, no-one could say what they were about’’.
How does one get that across to fired-up youth?
Who is the next Princip with a loaded gun? RON ELLIOTT Shirley
Run aground
Ever since my baptism into yachting via numerous capsizes from father’s sailing dingy into Lyttelton’s bracing waters, I’ve passionately supported Team NZ’s America’s Cup quest. But seeing Kiwi kids suffer third world diseases and trusts having to hand out breakfast, shoes and raincoats to shivering school students, my support has firmly run aground.
Barker and Dalton, both multimillionaires, demand taxpayers subsidise their bloated salaries (over a $1 million a year – no-one will say). Dean and Grant, put down your glasses of Bollinger and glance under that sleek carbonfibre catamaran. You’ll probably find a homeless family underneath, sheltering from the easterly, waiting for some crumbs from the captain’s table. CM PARSONS Hillmorton
The cheek of it
As a very patriotic and adopted Kiwi, I amastounded at Brad Butterworth’s cheek. You expect us to believe that this attempt to join the NZ America’s Cup team is ‘‘not about you’’? So, what must we read into your defection, when chasing the money, in the past? Have you been given the shove by Oracle Team America – and it’s ‘‘not about you’’?
With the new rules having been set up so that no-one other than the holders can win in the next competition, I object to any of my tax money being used for this skewed pretence. If anyone, including Brad and Team NZ (for whom I sweated blood until the US team brought in the cyborgs) want any of my money, I can offer each 10c to play in the traffic. TONY DEVENISH Strowan
Inattentive drivers
Road safety psychologist Dr Samuel Charlton (June 24) hit the nail on the head regarding slow drivers who speed up at passing zones when he said ‘‘drivers rarely give the task at hand their full attention’’. But he goes on to basically say we just have to live with inattentive drivers on the road. I say, rubbish!
When I was a nervous new driver 30 years ago I had one lesson from each of parents (I don’t recommend this at all!) before paying for private lessons from a trained and experienced professional driving tutor. To keep my insurance costs down, I also attended a Defensive Drivers Course.
A few years later I moved to the United States, whereupon I undertook, again, a Defensive Drivers Course designed for US conditions. In all of these lessons it was emphasised over and over to give my attention to the road. Not the radio, not my passengers: the road. I was taught to continually pay attention to my mirrors and my speedometer, to ‘‘read’’ the traffic ahead, to be alert for traffic signage, and to be aware of my placement in the road.
In other words, I was taught to pay attention! Something which I suspect is not being actively taught at present.
If I can give my full attention to my driving behaviour, so can others: many just choose not to do so.
That’s where the focus of all driver education should be: on teaching how to give one’s full attention to driving. There would be far fewer accidents and nearmisses as a result. LISA WILSON West Melton
Summer accidents
You report (June 25) that there are more crashes on New Zealand roads in summertime.
This contrasts with other countries in which there are more wintertime crashes. Winter crashes in other countries are explained by poor weather conditions.
Our perverse record is simply explained by the fact that there are more very bad Kiwi drivers on the roads in the nice weather.
The NZTA attributes our high road toll rightly to old, unsafe vehicles and wrongly to our roads. Our roads are fine except we do not have trunk motorways which are safe but unaffordable.
No, the real problem is our dangerous old cars and our terrible driving standards pure and simple. DAVID MITCHELL St Albans
Dvorak keyboard
I do wish Hayden Walles had done some research on keyboards ( The Box, June 24). There is a great keyboard for iPads and smartphones; the Dvorak for the right hand. There is a left-hand Dvorak as well.
The Dvorak is scientifically, empirically, designed to be fast, ergonomic and easy to type on.
The Qwerty is an OSH nightmare, designed to be so difficult to type on that it slows typists down to a speed so slow that an ancient mechanical typewriter would not clash its keys and jam up.
When high data entry speeds are called for Qwerty causes occupational overuse syndrome.
August Dvorak worked for the US Navy to develop a faster, easier keyboard. He succeeded, but heavily entrenched manufacturing and marketing prevented his layout gaining universal adoption.
I use a Standard US Dvorak keyboard plugged into my laptop on the desk and it is easier to use. I swap to Qwerty in the field.
A Dvorak for one hand would be perfect for a mobile – hold it in one hand and type with the other. Modern hand-held devices are easily powerful enough to convert from left to right hand in a flash of software.
Qwerty can be laid to rest, and should have been years ago. LEYLAND BENSON Hawarden